Hallelujah The Hills: Colonial Drones review

Poor Jeff Mangum. Dude released one of the best records of a generation and the greatest thanks he gets is a bunch of half-assed rip-off artists appropriating his best ideas. Seems like every literate guy with an acoustic guitar and half an idea thinks he can holler out some cryptic, yelped vocals backed by folksy, lo-fi baroque arrangements augmented by stray brass and string accompaniment and call it an album.

But Hallelujah the Hills are at their best on this sophomore set when they ignore that influence and instead, turn up the volume. That's a basic tenet of rock 'n' roll that too many indie bands forget - sometimes it's best to just let the noise speak for itself, rather than going the artier route. Even though the Boston sextet frequently recalls Neutral Milk Hotel (particularly on the openers "A Guide To The World's Most Fantastic Monsters" and "The Might Come Back Club"), elsewhere there are hints of Pavement and Modest Mouse, including "You Better Hope (You Die Before Me)."

But when they do rock, they do it well, as on "Blank Passports," which opens with a solid forward propulsion, eventually growing into a straight-forward rocker complemented by crunchy distortion and a tasteful synth line in the back of the mix. "Allied Lions," on the other hand, brings the best of both worlds, mixing the aggression of both those bands (including feedback chaos as the song closes) while incorporating smatterings of trumpet and a shouting chorus. Closer "Flight of the Paper Pilots" could've fit well on a late-period Guided By Voices release (and stands taller than much of Robert Pollard's post-GBV work).

But for every moment where the band gets its rocks off, there's two moments of thoughtful, constrained craftsmanship, including somber moments of cello and piano tinklings. "The Echo Sequence" opens with plucked strings, working in gentle guitars and muted vocals before adding drums, and over the course of nearly six minutes, creates a sonic wave that's always building but never truly crests.

Colonial Drones is a satisfactory, if not entirely rewarding listen, much of it spent recycling old ideas by better bands. Still, there's plenty of indication here that the band may well grow beyond their most obvious influences. Hell, even the Decemberists got tagged with Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons on their early releases, and things seem to have turned out fairly well for them, right?

(Originally posted to Spectrum Culture 10/15/09)